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The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

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241–250 of 309 posts

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#241
post #194

I saw this news and my reaction was, "Of course it is, doing anything else would be stupid." But that on its own doesn't mean it could just be a phone app if the hardware adds something useful to the way the user interacts with it. For example, old Sony mirrorless cameras just ran Android under the hood but the specific hardware is what made those products, not the OS. As a hardware person, both the Rabbit R1 and the…

"Giving order to one's assistant" is a class of interaction that some people desperately want, and I expect we'll see these kind of devices being made until it works, even if it's in two decades from now.

Fundamentally it's the model of the boss giving orders to its secretary, and people dream of it as some pinnacle of evolution (perhaps it is, I don't have a paid secretary to assess the point). That's actually pretty close to the concierge services offered by phone for instance, and some people with enough money seem to enjoy it, so why not (try to replicate it, even if it miserably fails for a while) ?

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#242
post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even considering it does not appear to work well in bright settings, and can't map the laser beam to uneven surfaces? Conceptually, the idea could be interesting, but the implementation shown appears that it would not work well in most real life settings.

Like the first gen Apple watch, or a convertible car. it doesn't work in a lot of scenarios, but for the ones where it does, it absolutely shines. A generation or three later, it'd be better, for sure, but early adopters have to give up some things to be that early. I just don't know why they had to force it to be independent of your smartphone this early in its lifecycle. It's an accessory, like a smartwatch, and su…

Survivor bias is so strong here, though. None of us can predict the future, and for every iPhone there's a swarm of largely forgotten devices like the Newton, WebTV, or Nokia M510.

See also: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Galileo_gambit

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#243
Hardware is … hard.

I remember a post, here, some time ago, that was an explanation about why someone wasn’t going to be making a webcam, even though they had a great idea.

The post talked about all the various details and hurdles, involved in sourcing parts, making, promoting, delivering, and supporting the product.

It basically said it wasn’t worth it.

Backing a hardware project requires substantially deeper pockets than an app.

Sometimes, a good hardware wrapper could make all the difference, but it’s a really big deal.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

building a hardware company and shipping thousands of devices doesn't seem like a get-rich-quick grift to me. There are a lot of things rabbit can do that you couldn't do on an app since they own the hardware. Just shipped it too soon. The product is definitely not super appealing to me yet in the current state.

name one thing the rabbit can do that a smartphone can't.

I'd love for the iPod to come back. I have a small DAP, the Shanling M0, but it has not the iPod ergonomics. A phone can do what the DAP does, but not the way it does it. A better phone ergonomics would probably be a PDA.

(I'm not defending Rabbit R1 and I think it's useless).

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#245
post #194

I saw this news and my reaction was, "Of course it is, doing anything else would be stupid." But that on its own doesn't mean it could just be a phone app if the hardware adds something useful to the way the user interacts with it. For example, old Sony mirrorless cameras just ran Android under the hood but the specific hardware is what made those products, not the OS. As a hardware person, both the Rabbit R1 and the…

"Giving order to one's assistant" is a class of interaction that some people desperately want, and I expect we'll see these kind of devices being made until it works, even if it's in two decades from now. Fundamentally it's the model of the boss giving orders to its secretary, and people dream of it as some pinnacle of evolution (perhaps it is, I don't have a paid secretary to assess the point). That's actually prett…

Yes it’s a very hierarchical way of thinking. I’d much rather imagine a world with more collaboration between peers than every person having a servant, but it seems those that run tech companies prefer the latter.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#246
post #78

This entire device category is dead the second Apple & Google release their own AI assistants baked into the mobile OS.

They already have. Apple calls theirs "siri". The dumb part here is a company getting attention for making a virtual assistant just because they added "AI".

Siri is nowhere near an AI assistant or even a decent AI query bot.

It mostly does simple commands and for the rest kicks you to web search results.

Apple surely understand the opportunity here, maybe their view is LLMs are just too variable / hallucinate too much to go all-in on it?

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#247
post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They already have. Apple calls theirs "siri". The dumb part here is a company getting attention for making a virtual assistant just because they added "AI".

Siri is nowhere near an AI assistant or even a decent AI query bot. It mostly does simple commands and for the rest kicks you to web search results. Apple surely understand the opportunity here, maybe their view is LLMs are just too variable / hallucinate too much to go all-in on it?

WWDC is in June. Lots of us are expecting better LLM integration and SDKs to be released then...

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#248

To be honest, I still don't understand the appeal of this product. I've always got a "one-time quick-cash hustle" video out of it and I can't trust it.

It's not a very good cash hustle if people actually use it. From what I can tell, it's a one time $200 payment and you can use the LLM indefinitely. If the device costs $100 to produce and ship that's only $100 left to cover compute... forever. It seems they want the compute to run on device, but that doesn't seem to be the case right now[0]. I don't know the specs of the device, but pretty sure it'd have to cost mor…

Forever as in: as long as they feel like/are capable of keeping their servers running.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pikachu's everywhere were shocked. This is just the same guy, over and over. If he isn't too old, I bet he was into dropshipping too. Always on whatever new grift, always ready to start selling shovels to gold miners. I wish people were smarter about this stuff.

building a hardware company and shipping thousands of devices doesn't seem like a get-rich-quick grift to me. There are a lot of things rabbit can do that you couldn't do on an app since they own the hardware. Just shipped it too soon. The product is definitely not super appealing to me yet in the current state.

… or, you could do the same with a web app… and OAuth.

But a web app doesn’t get you the hype, VC funding and Galaxy brained Twitter tech bro adoration.

Re: The Rabbit R1 is probably running Android and is powered by an Android app

#250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was an attempt with folding phones. Is that taking off beyond the "I have too much money" crowd?

what are you implying here? that folding phones are simply a money thing, and have no actual value?

I'm not sure if I'd get behind that take, but folding screen phones are horribly impractical if you are even a little hard on your phone. The screens and hinges are fragile, I've yet to see one that feels like it'd last more than a year at least for me.

I actually have a first gen Surface Duo and it's held up, though its been relegated to the second device role since it stopped getting updates. Anything with an actual folding display has seemed weak IMO, I'd be afraid of breaking it or finding weird distortions in the screen after a bit of use.

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